


Midtown Muggings

by MurdockSchmurdock



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Allergies, Endgame never happened everyone is safe and happy it’s cool I’m cool it’s fine, Gen, Minor Violence, Mugging, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Beta Read, Not Spider-Man: Far From Home Compliant, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Peter Parker-centric, Tony Stark Has A Heart, just for fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:00:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24150958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MurdockSchmurdock/pseuds/MurdockSchmurdock
Summary: Man, all this pollen is really screwing with his Spider-sense. Yeah, it’s definitely that. Not the muggings that have been targeting Midtown students for the last month. Nope.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 19
Kudos: 119





	Midtown Muggings

**Author's Note:**

> Heyyyyyyy....soooooo.... long time no see, huh?  
> Lots of stuff has been going on, and I’ve definitely been writing but unfortunately without a computer it’s a nightmare and AO3 was... very recently blocked on my school issue chrome book. So there’s that.  
> Anyway, it was nice to get back in the swing of things and I hope you enjoy this!

New York was in the midst of a much needed warm spell, the last dregs of winter melting away as the sun returned from its months-long hibernation. The weather was perfect, and Peter would’ve enjoyed it if it weren’t for the ridiculous amounts of pollen and the constant buzzing in the back of his head that had been plaguing him since halfway through second period. He wasn’t exactly sure which was the cause of his quickly escalating headache but his best bet was an unholy combination of the two.

Either way, it sucked, and Peter found himself seriously regretting his decision to tell May and Mister Stark he’d walk to the Tower after school. The sudden reexposure to the pollen was making his nose run like a refrigerator in a prank call, which only made his spidey senses freak out more. Well at least he figured his allergies were to blame, he’d never actually been through spring after the whole spider bite situation, the last two weeks before summer he spent curled up in his bed trying desperately to block out the constant stimuli from the outside world until he adjusted. That and the last time he got a little cold, his senses went wonky for a day or two. So it seemed like a logical conclusion that some nasty allergies would set him on edge.

On the other hand, it could also be a little bit of paranoia. The students of Midtown had been plagued by a series of mysterious muggings over the last month. Peter had been going out as Spider-Man almost daily after school since the third hit, but he had yet to actually catch the perp. He did see someone once, but they got away while Peter tried to calm down the traumatized freshman they’d been attacking. After realizing a local vigilante was onto him, the mugger disappeared. for the time being at least. 

Of course, Peter would be swinging out and about, but he didn’t particularly want to snot up the inside of a multimillion-dollar suit. Especially when he was on his way over to Mister Stark’s to work on it. Hopefully, he’d be over this allergy spell if and when the mugger struck again.

A sharp chill ran up his spine, accompanied by another wave of throbbing pain in his head. Alright, something’s gotta be up now. Peter scanned the sidewalk around him, the foot traffic was light by New York standards but still very crowded. None of the passersby stood out to him until his gaze swept over a nondescript man trailing about thirty feet behind him. For whatever reason, the guy had a sweatshirt on with the hoodie pulled up over his head. Pretty suspicious for such a sunny day, and Peter felt another jolt from his senses.

Okay, maybe it isn’t just paranoia. That guy is definitely following him, and he’d bet half his Lego Star Wars sets it’s the guy behind the muggings. His suit is in the bottom of his bag, there’s no way he’d be able to get it on in time at the rate sweatshirt guy was catching up to him. He just needs a place to slip away, or at least hideout and call his mentor. There’s an alley a block up with a good exit point, and he knows from experience it’s usually full of dumpsters. In other words, a perfect hiding spot.

Peter quickened his pace, hearing the man’s pace pick up in return. The alley was coming up on his right, and he darted in, brushing past the first large bin to see- Ohh shoot. It must’ve been garbage day because apart from the one dumpster in the opening the alley was empty. He took a step forward to jump the low fence when his pursuer ran into the alley behind him. Peter’s spidey senses spiked from a quiet hum to a buzz in the back of his skull. Making his escape would be a breeze, might as well take the opportunity to try and ID this guy.

He turned slowly to face the man, who was wearing a pair of dark glasses in addition to a bandana under the hood. Shoot. One of his gloved hands was concealed in his jacket pocket. Peter has a feeling he wasn’t reaching for his keys.

“Alright, kid, take off the backpack, give me all your money, and things won’t get any messier than they have to be.” The man said, wiggling his hand inside his pocket threateningly. Peter never thought he’d ever describe a hand wiggling in a pocket as threatening. 

“Well, we are in an alley, I think messy is kind of a given.” He quipped back. He could take this guy easy, but without a way to conceal his identity, it was too big a risk. Strategic retreat it was.

“Shut up, kid,” the man snarled, “And don’t try and fool me, you gotta be loaded to go to Midtown.”

“Come on man, I don’t even go there!” Peter whined. The mugger gestured impatiently with his free hand to Peter’s shirt, which had “Midtown DeCAFFalon 2K18” in big yellow letters above a graphic of a steaming latte with the team’s names on it.

“Alright, fine, I do go to Midtown” He conceded, “but I’m there on scholarship! I’m not exactly King Midas.” This was apparently not the answer the mugger wanted, as he slipped the switchblade from his pocket and twirled it around his fingers menacingly.

“Yeah, well, empty your bag anyway. And how about you let me have that pretty watch right there while you’re at it?” Peter glanced down at his wrist, the elegant black watch had been a gift from Mister Stark when they made his internship official. No way he was gonna give that up.

“This ratty ol thing? Nah,” He laughed, sniffing as his nose threatened to overflow again, “Instead, why don’t you put down that knife while I hop this fence?”

“Last chance, kid.” The guy growled, holding the blade out and advancing slowly on the teen. Peter matched his steps backward, once he hit the fence he could easily just hop over it-

A pair of thick arms wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides. Great, there were two.

“Now where do you think you’re going?” Well, that explained why he never caught the guy, or rather guys. He could get out of the hold easily, but the bigger issue was the tickle he felt in the back of his throat. The first man walked up to him, clearly pleased despite the bandana masking his features.

“I warned you, now how about I take that watch now?” He grinned, talking so close to Peter’s face that he could smell his breath. The tickle was moving up to his nose.

“Ugh, could you like, back up? I know a good dentist’s office on third if yoaaaaAAACHOOOO” 

Peter sneezed directly into the guy’s face, splattering his mask and glasses with spit and a lot of snot. With a shout of disgust, the man reeled back, desperately wiping himself off with his sleeves. The accomplice holding him quickly slapped a hand over his mouth, and without thinking, Peter opening his mouth around the fingers and slammed his jaw shut.

He felt his teeth sink into the skin, and with a horrible crunching noise snap right through the bones. Briefly, he thought about the rumor that you could bite through a finger as easily as a carrot. Of course, this would only be under very specific circumstances, at certain angles and was otherwise proven false. Super strength would probably count as a specific circumstance though.

His captor screamed and released him, pushing the teen away and ripping his hand from his mouth. Peter took this opportunity to body slam the other guy into the dumpster and race past him, leaving the muggers and their trail of pained expletives behind him.

He took off running in the direction of the Tower, painfully aware of the blood running down his chin and the three fingers still in his mouth. Every fiber of his being wanted to stop and vomit on the side of a building, but he was only like five minutes away. Plus, maybe they’d come in handy…

“You better have a hell of a good explanation for this, kid.” Peter nodded, still sipping greedily on the coke his mentor had handed him. He could understand Tony’s frustration, the poor guy didn’t exactly have any warning that his protegee would run into his kitchen covered with blood. Usually, when that happened, he was in his Spider-Man suit and the blood belonged to him. He also didn’t usually wordlessly spit three severed fingers onto the floor, either. And then throw up in the sink.

He finished chugging the soda, thankful to be rid of the incredibly unpleasant aftertaste that blood, bile, and fingers left in the back of his throat. Peter shot a cheeky grin at the man working at the table beside the one he currently sat on. 

“Well, I felt my senses going a little haywire, i mean, that’s been going on for a while now since Spring started, and my nose is just like all over the-” Tony cut him off.

“Pete, the fingers.” 

“Yeah, sorry,” He laughed, then continued “So there was this guy following me, I tried to get away in an alley but he cornered me and pulled a knife! I didn’t have my suit so I tried to hop the fence but there was another guy and he grabbed me and I sneezed on the first guy and then he put his hand on my mouth so I bit it! Like really hard!” The older man hid his snort by massaging his forehead and sighing. This kid. He didn’t even take a breath.

“That still doesn’t explain why you ran five blocks with some rando’s fingers in your mouth, why didn’t you just, spit them out? For that matter, why didn’t you call me?!” Tony stressed, gesturing wildly. The kid shrugged, popping open his second can. 

“Where on earth would I just dump some fingers? I don’t want to get arrested!” He replied,sniffing as his nose threatened to drip“ And I thought that maybe we could use them, y’know, to find the guys!”

“Alright, alright, I can see that, but you still could’ve called me, your watch has a panic button for cryin out loud!” Tony said, grimacing at the severed digits now arranged in separate Petri dishes next to him.

“I was going to but it all happened so fast. And I didn’t want them to get away again!” Peter whined. His mentor’s head whipped around so fast Peter worried he’d break something.

“I’m sorry, what did you just say?”

“I… didn’t want them… to get away again.” Peter mumbled, swiping a hand across his nose. Tony shot him a look.

“Again? Is there something you need to tell me, Peter?” He coaxed, leaning towards the kid with a I’m-not-asking-twice look. 

“Oh, you mean I didn’t tell you about the muggers targeting Midtown that I’ve been hunting for the last month?” Peter gulped, giving Tony a nervous smile. The man groaned and rolled his eyes, dragging his hands down his face.

“Is that why you asked to walk instead of having Happy drive you? Come on, Underoos, I know you’re too smart to just put yourself in danger like that.”

“Wh-no! I thought it was gonna be nice out today, and the muggers haven’t been active in a while anyway!” He defended, putting his hands up at the accusation. Tony held his gaze for a second before relenting and sitting up on the table next to him.

“Gimme a sip of that,” He said, swiping Peter’s coke from his hands and replacing it with a box of kleenex,” Nuh-uh, I see you sniffling, plus I bought it, and I lent you a sweatshirt so I can have some.” After taking a gratuitous swig he handed it back, ignoring his protegee’s nasty look. They sat in silence for a moment.

“Alright kid,” Tony said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and giving him a gentle shake, “I believe you. I’ll run the DNA from the fingers, see if it matches anything. You can put whatever description you have in, I’ll see if FRI can do anything with it.” 

“Thanks Mister Stark!” Peter beamed, almost knocking Tony off the table with a hug. And as quick as he came, he was bounding off to one of FRIDAY’s screens, already prattling off about locations and patterns. 

“Don’t make me regret this,” His mentor hollered after him, grabbing the half-full soda can the kid left behind. Peter grinned back at him, the holographic displays floating in front of him full of data.

“I won’t… probably.” He laughed.

“And you do realize we’re turning all this into the police, right?” Tony said, turning Peter’s attention from the screens.

“What, Why? I got this Mister Stark.” He countered. 

“I know that you do, Pete,” Tony explained, joining the teen in the workspace, “But if Spider-Man shows up right after some kid managed to take out two muggers, I think they’d be pretty suspicious.” The kid huffed, but he knew he was right. Even if they couldn’t pick out Peter Parker from a line-up, they would know he went to Midtown. That was way too close.

“Okay, I trust you,” He said before his eyes lit up, “Ooh! Do you think FRIDAY could see if anyone was admitted to local hospitals with missing fingers?” Tony chuckled and ruffled Peter’s hair with one hand.

“Sure thing, kid. Got that, FRI?” 

“Of course, Boss.” The AI responded, and another screen appeared running through lists of names, faster than either could read. The pair worked through lists upon lists as FRIDAY scanned databases for DNA matches.

“Sir, a match has been found for the fingers,” FRIDAY spoke, startling both of them, “I’m sending the files to your tablet now.” 

“Awesome FRI, how long have we been working?” Tony asked as Peter finished pulling up the profiles.

“It is currently seven thirty-eight, so you have been working for approximately three hours and fifteen minutes.” She responded. 

“Celebratory take out?” Tony asked with a grin, prompting a victory fist pump from Peter. 

“Yes! I mean, what would my Aunt say if you didn’t feed me?” He responded, laughing as his mentor pushed him towards the elevator. Maybe letting the police handle this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I accidentally let it slip to my mom that I was writing this and she made me show it to her. The good news is, she liked it, the bad news is, she sent it to half the family so now they all know I write Spider-Man fan fiction in my spare time.  
> Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment or a kudo if you have some to spare, or hit me up on Instagram @murdock_schmurdock if you’d like! I love to chat!


End file.
